They say information is power, and American University Athletics is counting on that. Six of AU's programs are currently using Polar Team Pro, a system implemented by the Assistant Athletics Director for Sport Performance, Sean Foster.
 
Designed for team sports, Polar Team Pro combines high-precision GPS-derived movement data, an accelerometer, and an integrated heart rate monitoring in an easy-to-use wearable player tracking system.
 
"We wanted to find a way to create a better experience for our student-athletes in terms of getting them stronger, faster and better-conditioned, but more importantly, preventing injury," said Foster. "The best way to do that is to track and monitor their overall activity during practices, games, conditioning sessions and lifting."
 
The Eagles' field hockey team, led by head coach Steve Jennings, was the first to start using the Polar system a number of years ago. Field hockey was also the first to use Polar Team Pro starting in the spring of 2018.
 
"What's nice about the Pro is that it gives you velocity and it gives you the GPS," said Jennings. "What we're hyper-focused on is moving really fast as opposed to being out for a long duration. You might have two athletes who both covered five miles in a game but one did three of those miles at a sprint and the other only did one mile at a sprint. We're trying to play a style that's more akin to the first person, so having that data available is so valuable."  
 
Jennings and his staff put the data to good use. He says it was a major factor in the Eagles winning the 2019 Patriot League Championship.
 
"We were able to win the Patriot League, in our opinion, because we were able to cover much more ground at speed than we were at the beginning of the season," he said. "We were able to prove that the difference equated to having an extra player and a half on the field. When we present that information to the team, it creates a different kind of buy-in and allows us to be successful."
 
Since the summer of 2019, AU's men's and women's basketball teams, men's and women's soccer teams and women's lacrosse team have also started using the Polar Team Pro system.
 
"We get an incredible amount of information," said Foster. "We look at the athletes' internal workload which is based on their heart rate and their percentage of max heart rate. We look at their mechanical load which is based on the amount of sprint volume they accrue and the amount of sprinting they do as a percentage of their overall running volume. Then we look at intensity through total amount of sprints and changes of direction they accumulate in practice."
 
What results is the ability for Foster and his staff, along with the coaching staffs, to have an objective way of looking at the difficulty of a given training session. While many positive outcomes can result, Foster's primary goal is injury prevention.
 
"With the type of information we get, I can see how hard a practice is and then make sure our conditioning is building them to that level to be able to practice safely," said Foster. "I can also look at the game data and see what the demand of a game is in order to structure practice to best prepare them for games."
 
Preseason, particularly the beginning of it, is often an issue for athletes who suddenly begin training at a much higher level than they were prepared for. Now that Foster has the data on what preseason practices look like as far as mileage and intensity, he and his staff can get athletes to that level safely through the offseason.
 
"If someone is running 2-4 miles a week over the summer and over the first week of preseason they average 25 miles that week, they're not physically prepared for that and they'll be at much higher risk for injury," says Foster. "So having that information allows us to better structure summer and offseason conditioning programs."
 
The same principle applies in-season, with coaches being able to make sure the practice sessions are matching the intensity of a game.
 
"We can see now how many miles they're running in a game, and at what level, and try to duplicate that workout three times a week in practice," said women's basketball head coach Megan Gebbia. "My practices are structured differently now with different drills meant to achieve different heart rate levels…I think our players are in better condition now and can compete for longer periods of time."
 
Each student-athlete is able to view their personal information through Polar Team Pro, which Foster says creates more buy-in to their training.
 
"We've had nothing but positive feedback," said Foster, speaking of both coaches and student-athletes. "This is another tool we use to win. If we can keep you healthier, you're more likely to win. If we can get you in better shape to practice, it's more likely we win. If we're used to functioning in practice at a very high level that mimics the demands of the game, we're probably going to be more successful."